


Birthday Gift

by Peppermint_YGO (Peppermint_Shamrock)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Gen, Lizards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 20:17:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8415226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/pseuds/Peppermint_YGO
Summary: Mokuba gets his brother a birthday present: lizards.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnnaOfMirkwood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOfMirkwood/gifts).



“Are you really going to work during your birthday again?”

Kaiba kept his gaze on the large computer screen in front of him. He didn’t need to turn to know that Mokuba was standing in the doorway, admonishing him.

“We’re approaching the holiday season, Mokuba. This is a critical time for the company – if we don’t get the newest duel disk iteration on the shelves by that time, we might as well have not produced it at all.”

“I _know_ that…but you can take one day off, can’t you? And didn’t you send out a bulletin to employees last week about the value of taking breaks? How it improved productivity?”

“That’s a different matter. A break is five minutes, maybe half an hour at most. Not a whole day,” Kaiba said, closing out of the report he had been reading and opening up the next one. He knew Mokuba only had the best intentions, but sometimes work just needed to be done. Birthdays were pointless nonsense anyway – everyone was born; it was nothing special. Sure, Mokuba enjoyed that sort of thing, and Kaiba was perfectly willing to indulge in a celebration for his brother’s birthday if it made him happy – but he saw no need for such frivolous things for himself.

“You don’t even do that most of the time,” Mokuba said, exasperated. “Come on, you can’t work on your _birthday_!”

Yes, he very well could.

“Besides – I have a surprise for you! A birthday present! Come on, at least come and see it,” Mokuba pleaded, and Kaiba gave in.

“Alright. I’ll take a short break for that,” he said, turning off the screens, and standing up to face Mokuba. It obviously was something that was important to his brother, so he couldn’t refuse.

Mokuba, delighted, led the way out of the room as Kaiba followed closely behind. As they walked, a nagging thought crept up in Kaiba’s mind. He kept careful track of finances, both for the company and for himself and Mokuba. He would have noticed if any withdrawal had been made for Mokuba to purchase something, but none had been made. Perhaps Mokuba had built something using Kaiba Corp resources? That didn’t seem right, he’d never been technically inclined like Kaiba himself was. Although perhaps he had learned without Kaiba’s knowledge in an effort to surprise him? Mokuba had been recently been disappearing off someplace rather frequently, after all.

“If you’re wondering where I got the money,” Mokuba said, as if in answer to Kaiba’s thoughts, “since I wanted this to be a surprise, I’ve been working at Yuugi’s shop.”

“What?”

“I knew you’d see it if I took the money out of my account, so I made an agreement with Yuugi and his grandfather…Yuugi thought it was a great idea to get you a secret present! So it’s kind of from him and his friends as well as me.”

“Mokuba…I appreciate the thought, but you know how I feel about being indebted to anyone, especially Yuugi,” Kaiba grumbled. Why did Yuugi have to be involved?

“You’re not _indebted_ to him,” Mokuba said with slight exasperation. “It’s a gift!”

“It might as well be a debt. Now I’m obligated to give him something for his birthday…I don’t even know when that is.”

“I’ll handle it and say it’s from you, okay?” Mokuba said, shaking his head. In a quiet mutter, he continued, “It’s not like he’s a business partner or anything.”

As they entered a new room, Mokuba came to a stop. Kaiba looked around, and spotted Isono fiddling with a lamp over a glass tank. And in the tank were…

“Lizards!” Mokuba said happily. “What do you think? Not quite dragons, I suppose, but those tend to be in short supply.” He looked expectantly up at Kaiba.

“Lizards, huh? I certainly wasn’t expecting a pet…”

“So do you like them?”

“Well…they’ll need to be cared for,” Kaiba started.

“That’s okay, Isono suggested I pick up some books and pamphlets on caring for them – they’re over there,” Mokuba interrupted, pointing to a table off to the side of the tank. “And he read through them, so if you’re ever too busy, he can look after the lizards too.”

“Ah,” was Kaiba’s only response. He hesitated, then strode over to the tank. Isono stepped aside, having successfully set up the lamp. Kaiba cautiously extended his hand into the tank towards the lizards. One clambered up onto his hand, and he carefully removed it from the tank. With his other hand, he gently stroked the lizard’s back with one finger, attempting to keep it from wandering with the rest.

But the lizard was restless and eager to explore, and despite Kaiba’s best efforts, he could not keep it contained. It dodged his hand and scampered up his arm. Kaiba twisted his arm back in an attempt to keep the reptile in view, but instead, it dropped to the floor.

Surprised, Kaiba was unable to react in time to catch the lizard as it darted away across the room.

“I’ve got it!” Mokuba shouted as he dived towards the floor, the lizard slipping past his fingers and under a cabinet. Isono immediately started pushing on the cabinet.

“Don’t,” ordered Kaiba. “You might injure it. Mokuba, is there any food to use for bait?”

“Yeah, insects and stuff. I’ll get them,” Mokuba said, dashing over to the fridge to pull the bait out. He walked over with a container full of dead bugs. “Do you want me to…?” he asked, but Kaiba shook his head.

“I’ll deal with it,” he said, taking the bugs from Mokuba. He unscrewed the lid of the container and gingerly pulled out an insect. He handed the container back to Mokuba and lowered himself to the ground, insect held between two fingers. He pushed his hand under the cabinet and moved it back and forth, hoping the motion would attract the lizard.

Eventually, it did, and Kaiba withdrew his hand as the lizard followed. With a quick motion, Kaiba successfully scooped it up, letting it munch on the insect that he had used to lure it out. He straightened up.

“Perhaps it would be better to keep them in the tank for now,” Isono suggested hesitantly.

“Hmm. Perhaps,” Kaiba agreed. He had to admit that despite the trouble, he was already getting fond of the lizards. He placed the captured one back into the tank, and turned to Mokuba, giving him a small smile to indicate his appreciation. Mokuba beamed back.

“I suppose I had better read some of these, shouldn’t I?” Kaiba said, picking up some of the material on the table. It seemed that he was going to take the day off, after all.


End file.
